Understanding how to brand your business on Instagram is tricky. You have so many other businesses that spam their product onto the feeds of users. Let’s avoid this and instead, brand your business on Instagram and really connect with your followers – with the ultimate result being an excited and loyal customer base. We detail everything you need to know right here.
Branding – What Exactly is it?
Branding is everywhere. But even though it’s everywhere, we don’t actually take the time to understand what it is. The straightforward definition provided by the Cambridge Dictionary reads as the following, ‘the act of giving a company a particular design or logo in order to advertise its products and services. This definition is a bit stale and needs some revamping to tie in with social media in the present day.
Branding itself is no longer just a logo or design. It’s a collective effort of marketing the essential message and ethos of a business through specific channels – building the ‘real brand’ of a business. Everyone knows who Apple is, but they also associate the Apple brand with excellence, exclusivity, and sensational products.
History of Branding
Branding has a long and eventful history that started roughly 500 years ago. The word brand was derived from the Ancient Norse language ‘brand which when translated into English meant ‘to burn’. ‘Branding’ is then thought to have first been used by cattle farmers who would then brand their livestock to depict ownership. A specific design unlike any other would be used to make it easy to identify certain cattle from one another.
While this is the first mention of the word ‘brand’, it doesn’t mean that depicting ownership started there as various forms of designs were stamped onto goods such as pottery which dates back thousands of years. Early craftsman in China was renowned for this while other countries such as Egypt and Greece adopted similar traditions.
It wasn’t until the industrial revolution during the 18th century that larger businesses implemented branding on a mass scale. As technology improved and access to a wider market became available, businesses used this opportunity to create intricate designs and logos that would authenticate their product. Customers would then be able to differentiate between it and other brands – making the decision to buy based on price, quality, or the brand itself.
By the 1950s, businesses began investing more time and money into research. This research comprised of understanding buying patterns and the thinking behind why a customer may choose one product over another. Businesses no longer wanted to wait for customers to buy a product, they wanted to create an emotional connection that showed the customer that they simply had to have that product.
As the 2000s rapidly approached, businesses again changed their tactics. Instead of relying on dated designs and logos, they chose to reinvent their brands with cleaner logos, updated color schemes, and a more consistent brand message.
The 3 Basics of Branding
Branding encompasses several key components, yet the three components below are the absolute basics. When implemented correctly, these components help lay the foundation for long-term success and lasting customer relationships.
1. Know Your Audience
When developing your brand, it’s incredibly easy to race to create a logo you love with a color scheme to match. This may excite you, but such effort must always be made with your target audience in mind.
Your target audience is the group of prospective customers who would be interested in your product or services. They should be meticulously researched and chosen in order for you to correctly market your brand. Failure to do so will only result in you starting off on the wrong foot – wasting time and losing out on sales.
Gemstoned Jewelry is an excellent example of a small business that understands its audience and subsequently brands its product to perfection.
2. Consistency
It is one of the most neglected components of creating a successful brand, but businesses still fail to capitalize on it. Consistency doesn’t only refer to the messages that you send out, it rather encompasses the actions and ideas of a business. This includes the integration of business colors, slogans, designs of adverts, marketing campaigns, etc.
Instagram is full of businesses that aren’t consistent with their overall brand. One small business that avoids this pitfall is Scrub and Butter. As you scroll through their Instagram, you can immediately see the consistency of colors and designs that form part of each of their posts. This consistency creates familiarity with a reader or follower – the next time they come across such a design, their mind will automatically think that it’s Scrub and Butter.
3. Understand Your Purpose – Don’t ‘Fake it Till You Make it’
People start businesses for a variety of reasons, and you may have your own that’s very personal to you. But the reason for starting a business fails in comparison to understanding its purpose. Your purpose should ultimately focus on providing a product or service that exceeds a customer’s expectations and needs – preferably a local customer.
Bombs by Chase understands this perfectly as they are driven to provide charity bath bombs for their local community in support of Headwaters Health Care Foundation. Incorporate your target audience when attempting to understand your purpose, you may stumble across a different idea that inspires you to take your brand in a whole new direction.
Social Media Advantages in Branding
Instagram is a hotbed of opportunity but social media, in general, offers fantastic advantages in growing your brand. These are three amazing advantages when you sign up to the correct platform.
1. Connects with Your Target Audience
Both Instagram and Facebook are enormously popular, but they can differ in terms of your target audience. Choosing the right social media platform allows your brand to connect to a larger portion of your target audience who are more likely to engage with your brand. Research as much as you can beforehand as some platforms don’t offer the results that warrant your time.
2. Apps Inspire Creativity
The number of apps available on Google Play of the App Store is incredibly diverse. Many of these can be used to create and design templates that can be used to market your brand – for free! Not only does it attract the attention of your target audience, but it also ensures consistency, exciting aesthetics, and a familiar tone of voice that complements your brand.
3. Star Ratings Generate Trust
Small businesses face a daunting task in developing their brand on Instagram as major retailers place ad after ad on the platform. Grammedit attempts to overcome this by using an integrated star rating system on the profile of a business. Such a move inspires trust before the buying process starts and cements the brand as an increasingly popular alternative to larger businesses.
Marketplace Opportunities for New Businesses
Having been launched in 1995, eBay has been instrumental in paving the way for other marketplaces to become available. Although eBay is still very popular, it may not suit your product and niche which is why these two marketplaces are perfect for your brand.
1. Etsy
Etsy is a worldwide phenomenon whether it be Etsy Canada to Etsy Australia. The platform is successful as it primarily caters towards brands that are very niche-specific – something that may be ideal for you. From art to vintage jewelry, Etsy is a great option, but it performs even better when the partners with Grammedit.
2. Grammedit
Grammedit doesn’t just offer a star rating system, it’s the go-to partner to increase visibility on Instagram and make it easier for people to search directly for your business and products. This certification lends tremendous credibility to your brand and places it among the most exclusive small businesses regardless of your niche.
While marketing a business and product can get expensive, Grammedit is a superior, cost-effective platform that expands the reach of your brand, yet still assists with that personal touch that so many customers crave.
Benefits of Grammedit for Your Business
As customers become smarter with how they buy their products and from who, Grammedit has these additional benefits that won’t make you think twice about whether to partner with the brand-friendly platform.
- Improved brand recognition.
- Accurate analytics.
- Increase in site traffic.
- Lays the foundation for a loyal and dedicated customer base.
- Consistent flow of prospective customers.
- Greater authority within your niche – a result from the review and star rating process.
- Instead of selling stock, make stock to order.
Final Thoughts
Whether or not you are planning to start your own business or currently are running one, the impact of creating a successful brand will help your business resonate with your community and followers. Grammedit makes this difficult process simple as it has all the features necessary to help you nurture and grow your business into the brand that it deserves to be. Sign up to Grammedit today and take the first step towards creating a business filled with lasting success.
Have you developed a true identity for your brand? Detail how you overcame obstacles in the comments below.
